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UK Equalities Minister, Lynne Featherstone has been urged to initiate a government review and public consultation on the ban on gay civil marriage.

UK Equalities Minister, Lynne Featherstone has been urged to initiate a government review and public consultation on the ban on gay civil marriage.

The call came during a meeting between Ms Featherstone and a range lesbian and gay rights campaigners, including Peter Tatchell, which took place at the House of Commons on Tuesday 27 July 2010.

The meeting was convened by Ms Featherstone to take soundings on allowing civil partnerships to have a religious content, which is currently prohibited, and on the option of extending civil marriages to same-sex couples.

"The coalition government should undertake a public consultation to determine whether the ban on gay marriage ought to be lifted. It should invite representations from individuals and organisations and, on the basis of the submissions received, decide if the ban should stay or go," said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

"Maintaining the ban without considering public opinion is unreasonable and unjustified," he added.

Ms Featherstone responded by saying that the government needed to take one step at a time, beginning with giving religious bodies the option to hold civil partnerships, if they wished, in accordance with Lord Alli's successful amendment to the Equality Bill earlier this year.

Mr Tatchell replied: "Action on improving civil partnerships and reviewing the ban on gay marriage are not mutually exclusive. They could run together in tandem.

"This is an issue of equality. In a democratic society, we are all supposed to be equal under the law. The bans on same-sex civil marriage and on heterosexual civil partnerships are not equality. They are discrimination. It's anti-democratic," Tatchell declared.

He added: "The government is out of step with popular opinion. Without any major campaign or wider debate, nearly two-thirds of the British public now say that the law on civil marriage should not discriminate."

A Populus poll for the Times newspaper in June 2009 found that 61% of the public believe that: 'Gay couples should have an equal right to get married, not just to have civil partnerships.' Only 33% disagreed.

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The plenary assembly of the Symposium of Catholic Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar is due to be held in Accra, Ghana, from 27 July to 1 August.

The plenary assembly of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) is due to be held in Accra, Ghana, from 27 July to 1 August 2010.

The event will be attended by some 250 key figures in the Church, including cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and lay persons from Africa and other parts of the world.

SECAM, the president of which is Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, Catholic Archbishop of Dal-es-Salaam, Tanzania, is celebrating its fortieth year of activity with a week of reflection on the theme of 'Self-Reliance and the Way Forward for the Church in Africa'.

Within the context of plenary assembly, Archbishop Leon Kalenga Badikebele, apostolic nuncio to Ghana, will deliver an official Message from Benedict XVI to the participants.

The plenary assembly, the highest administrative body in SECAM, meets every three years. This year's agenda includes a meeting of bishops on the central theme of the gathering and a round table discussion, as well as a renewal of their joint commitment to achieve the ideals of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar.

The national and regional episcopal conferences of Africa and other bodies affiliated to SECAM will present their evaluations on the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, which was held in the Vatican last October on the theme of 'The Church in Africa, at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace'.

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This week I can almost smell the fear of China wafting from the corridors of Whitehall.

A Japanese Christian leader has warned that many refugee status applicants are living under constant threat of detention and deportation.

A Japanese Christian leader has warned that many refugee status applicants in Japan are living under a constant threat of detention and deportation, and if detained they risk being split from their relatives.

"The greatest problem are detentions that separate family members," Naoko Sato, secretary general of the Tokyo-based Christian Coalition for Refugees and Migrant Workers, told a 25 July 2010 gathering with refugees in the Japanese capital.

"Fathers and mothers are separated from their children for one or two years," Sato told the meeting, which was organized by the Protestant coalition - a group linked to the ecumenical National Christian Council in Japan.

There were 2,332 recognised refugees in Japan as of January 2010, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

In 2009, 1,388 people applied for refugee status in Japan, of whom 30 were recognised as refugees, the government's immigration bureau announced in February this year.

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.]

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BP was prevented from selling fuel anywhere in central London this morning, when nonviolent Greenpeace activists shut down every petrol station in the area.

BP was prevented from selling fuel anywhere in central London yesterday morning (27 July 2010), when nonviolent Greenpeace activists shut down every petrol station in the area, putting up signs reading, "Closed: moving beyond petroleum".

Greenpeace reported that fifty stations in London were immobilised by small teams of activists, but BP claimed that the number of stations affected was “up to thirty”. Campaigners used a shut-off switch to stop the flow of fuel at each location. They say that the switches were then “safely removed” and taken away to prevent the stations from re-opening.

The direct action began at around 5.30am, ahead of the formal announcement of the appointment of Bob Dudley as BP's new Chief Executive. He will replace Tony Hayward, whose resignation follows a sharp fall in the company's reputation and financial value, triggered by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"We've shut down all of BP's stations in London to give the new boss a chance to come up with a better plan,” said Greenpeace's Executive Director, John Sauven, “They're desperate for us to believe they're going ‘beyond petroleum'. Well now's the time to prove it."

He was speaking outside a petrol station in Camden, north London, where Greenpeace climbers replaced BP's logo with a new version showing the green 'sunflower' disappearing into a sea of oil.

"Forward-thinking companies around the world have realised that fossil fuels are the past and clean energy is the future,” said Sauven, “It looks like Tony Hayward didn't get the memo”.

He added, “Under Tony Hayward the company went backwards, squeezing the last drops of oil from places like the Gulf of Mexico, the tar sands of Canada and even the fragile Arctic wilderness”.

Greenpeace urged BP to “move beyond oil”.

A spokesperson for BP alleged that Greenpeace had put customers and staff at risk. He said, “It is disruptive for motorists and we will be looking at what action to take against those responsible".

He added, “At most of the stations they tried to shut down the power on the forecourts, which is vandalism”. The accusation of vandalism is likely to be thrown back at BP themselves.

BP's board announced record losses today after setting aside around $25-30bn to pay for the massive clean-up job and legal fees resulting from the huge oil spill. BP's share price has fallen by 40 per cent since the incident.

The controversy has drawn attention to the practices of BP, who the World Development Movement accuse of “fuelling climate change”. A number of Christian bodies, including the Church of England and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), have been urged to ditch their shares in BP, in some cases by their own members.

But BP still plan to extract oil from risky deepwater wells in the Arctic as well as from the tar sands of Canada. Extracting oil from tar sands is generally thought to be around three times more damaging to the climate than drilling for regular crude oil. Greenpeace point that “a spill in the Arctic wilderness could have consequences even more devastating than the current disaster”.

Greenpeace are urging Dudley – who was formerly the BP Group's Vice-President for Alternative Energy and Renewables - to “demonstrate early leadership” by announcing that the company will pull out of a trio of planned tar sands projects in Alberta which are due to be developed next year, and massively scale up the company's investment in alternative energy.

A company presentation delivered by Hayward in March this year shows that over the course of 2010, BP intended to invest $19 billion in their oil and gas business compared with less than $1 billion on all alternative technologies combined. This includes spending on controversial biofuels, as well as all renewables.

Sauven insisted today that, “The age of oil is coming to an end and companies like BP will be left behind unless they begin to adapt now”.

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An Anglican Communion working group has met at Lambeth to turn a proposed Anglican Alliance on relief, development and advocacy into reality.

A working group from across the worldwide Anglican Communion has met at Lambeth Palace in London to plan how to turn a proposed Anglican Alliance on relief, development and advocacy into a reality.

Professionals from five continents working on advocacy, relief and community development programmes reviewed responses to a public consultation on the foundational document and the issues arising from them, and worked together to chart a way forward for the first few years of the Alliance.

On the consultation’s final afternoon, the group reported back to both the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Canon Kenneth Kearon.

Their report included inspiring stories of local church action on relief, development and advocacy currently taking place around the Anglican world and comments on how the Alliance could support this work.

Reflecting on his Church’s programmes in areas of HIV and sexual violence, a Congolese participant, Albert Baliesima said: “This is an opportunity to share our experiences and learn from each other in the Anglican Communion.”

Ollie Pokhana, a participant from the Solomon Islands where the Church helps communities adapt to climate change, agreed: “This Alliance can connect me with other people who are engaged in similar issues so we can get better results.”

Delene Mark from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa described her church’s campaign against human trafficking and reflected on what the Alliance could add: “It could strengthen the voice of the individual churches working on key issues such as human trafficking, but also raise the profile of this campaign at the global level, encouraging churches in other countries to engage.”

Ms Sandra Andrade, the representative from Brazil, emphasised the importance of keeping people ­ especially the most vulnerable ­ at the heart of the vision: “We need to put at the centre the people who will be served by this Alliance, particularly our brothers and sisters who most need our support.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury described the proposed Alliance as something he believed “could really allow local understanding, and local initiative to grow and flourish with the best skills and capacities we, as a church worldwide, can offer.”

It was affirmed that a key aim of the Alliance was to work collaboratively to help equip Anglican churches to be more effective partners with other organisations. The working group’s plan is to establish a light provisional structure to facilitate learning and collaboration while the participants developed the most effective mechanisms for learning from and strengthening grassroots initiatives and promoting regional collaboration.

The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Rev Canon Kenneth Kearon, told the group that this consultation was an encouraging move forward, seeing Anglicans coming together on a common vision around a response to poverty.

Dr Williams also stressed that with the Alliance the Anglican Communion was not trying “to create another huge NGO” but rather something that was“more focused, more intentional; something which could genuinely lead to an exchange of wisdom and experience and build the capacity of churches to be a credible partner for governments and NGOs.”

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Shoso Kamomoto, a survivor of the nuclear attack on Japan, will speak during memorial events in London marking the 65th anniversary of the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

An atomic bomb survivor will be in London next week to mark the 65th anniversary of the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Shoso Kawamoto will be speaking during a series of memorial events, peace walks, vigils, an exhibition and storytelling.

The commemoration is organised by The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) working with the Quakers, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, who are providing the materials for the exhibition.

The exhibition, After the Bomb dropped: How Hiroshima and Nagasaki suffered, explores the devastation of the two cities by nuclear weapons through photographs and artefacts recovered from the wreckage. This is on show from 2-12 August at Friends House (opposite Euston Station).

Helen Drewery, General Secretary of Quaker Peace and Social Witness said: “Quakers feel honoured to be able to host this major exhibition at Friends House. It feels appropriate that it should be housed in a building which has been – and continues to be - the hub for so much work for peace. Remembering the suffering caused by war and listening to survivors is a vital part of what drives us to work for better ways to resolve conflict.”

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The Greek authorities should immediately review their policy of locking up asylum-seekers and irregular migrants, including many unaccompanied children, Amnesty International said in a new report today.

The Greek authorities should immediately review their policy of locking up asylum-seekers and irregular migrants, including many unaccompanied children, Amnesty International said in a new report today (27 July).

The report reveals that many are held in poor conditions in border guard stations and immigration detention centres with limited or no access to legal, social and medical aid.

The report's approach is clear from its title, “Greece: Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers routinely detained in substandard conditions”. It reveals that in the vast majority of detention facilities visited by Amnesty International delegates, conditions ranged from inadequate to very poor. Those detained told Amnesty of instances of ill-treatment by coastguards and police.

“Asylum-seekers and irregular migrants are not criminals,” said Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty's Europe and Central Asia Programme Director, “Yet, the Greek authorities treat them as such, disregarding their rights under international law”.

She added, “Currently, migrants are detained as a matter of course, without regard to whether such measure is necessary. Detention of asylum-seekers and migrants on the grounds of their irregular status should always be a measure of last resort.”

Detention prior to deportation can last for up to six months in Greece for asylum-seekers and irregular migrants. Greek law also makes irregular entry into and exit out of the country a criminal offence.

Tens of thousands of irregular migrants and asylum-seekers arrive in Greece each year. The vast majority of asylum-seekers and individuals fleeing war-torn countries reach the country through the Greek-Turkish land and sea borders. They are mostly Afghan, Somali, Palestinian, Iraqi and Eritrean.

“After an often-hazardous journey, migrants end up in detention centres without access to a lawyer, interpreters or social workers,” explained Duckworth, “As a result, their circumstances are not assessed correctly and many in need of international protection may be sent back to the places they have fled, while others may be deprived of appropriate care and support”.

Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers are not informed about the length of their detention or about their future. Amnesty reports that they can be kept for long periods of time in overcrowded facilities with unaccompanied minors being detained among the adults. Those detained have limited access to medical assistance and hygiene products.

Few asylum-seekers are recognised as refugees by the Greek authorities. From the over 30,000 asylum applications examined in 2009, only 36 were granted refugee protection status while 128 were granted subsidiary protection status.

The duration and poor conditions of their detention provoked irregular migrants and asylum-seekers to stage protests in Venna, north-east Greece in February 2010. Likewise, in April 2010, irregular migrants went on hunger strike on the island of Samos to protest against their length of detention.

Duckworth insisted, “Detention cannot be used as a tool to control migration. The onus is on the authorities to demonstrate in each individual case that such detention is necessary and proportionate to the objective to be achieved and that alternatives will not be effective.”

Amnesty International believes the plans being developed by the Greek authorities to establish screening centres should include alternative approaches, such as those running open or semi-open centres for people arriving in the country. They say the authorities need to ensure that irregular migrants and asylum-seekers arriving at those centres have access to free legal assistance and interpreters in languages they understand, as well as medical assistance.

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The health gap between the richest and poorest in Britain is now wider than it was during the great depression, according to researchers from Sheffield and Bristol Universities. The figures reflect a similar growth in economic inequality.

The health gap between the richest and poorest in Britain is now wider than it was during the great depression, according to researchers from Sheffield and Bristol Universities.

They say that the gap was gradually narrowing until the 1970s, when the trend reversed. Health inequality has grown rapidly in the last twenty years. This reflects a growth in economic inequality over a similar period.

The academics compared rates of early death between 1999 and 2007. They report that for every 100 deaths before the age of 65 in the richest areas, there were 212 in the poorest areas.

This compares to a ratio of only 191-100 in the years between 1921 and 1930, and of 185-100 between 1931 and 1939.

The 1920s and 30s are generally considered to have been Britain's hardest economic times during the twentieth century. The First World War from 1914-18 had a devastating effect on British economy and society. These problems were then exacerbated by the beginning of the great depression in 1929, which led to mass unemployment.

“Health and wealth are directly linked,” insisted researcher Danny Dorling, “Unless we tackle the income gap, we could well see life expectancy actually starting to fall for the first time in the poorest areas”.

Several of the candidates in the Labour Party leadership election have said that Labour should not have allowed economic inequality to increase during its thirteen years in office, which came to an end in May this year.

Campaigns for economic equality have gained momentum since the publication last year of the The Spirit Level. The book's authors, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, use detailed analysis to demonstrate lower levels of crime, unwanted pregnancy and other social problems in more equal societies. This perspective is now promoted by the Equality Trust.

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Only one in 10 British adults oppose the introduction of women bishops in the Church of England, according to a poll by YouGov. Also, supporters of gay bishops outnumber their opponents.

Only one in 10 British adults oppose the introduction of women bishops in the Church of England, according to an independent poll conducted by YouGov. Pollsters found that 63 per cent support the move, while 24 per cent have no view and three per cent are unsure of their opinion.

The poll, which was not commissioned by any body external to YouGov, comes shortly after heated debate about women bishops at the Church of England's General Synod.

Supporters of openly gay bishops also outnumber opponents. Thirty-nine per cent say they are in favour, with 27 per cent against. In addition, 31 per cent have no opinion, while three per cent say they don't know.

The figures are likely to reinforce the popular perception that Christians are reactionary and reluctant to change. Christians who support sexual inclusion argue that churches should be at the forefront of social change, not struggling to keep up.

The researchers found that women were more likely than men not only to support women bishops, but also to support gay bishops.

Tory voters turned out to be less keen on either idea than Labour and Liberal Democrat voters. Only 58 per cent of Tories said they supported women bishops, compared to 70 per cent of Labour and 73 per cent of Liberal Democrat voters.

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What do Christians witness in the land of frequent pilgrimages but also of infrequent visions known popularly as 'the Holy Land', but riven with conflict? Harry Hagopian draws attention to the history and presence of indigenous Christian communities in the region through a personal exploration and pilgrimage.

Haig is an Armenian Christian from Jerusalem, a city that is six miles and twenty minutes north of Bethlehem. Haig also happens to be my younger brother, and our family have lived in Jerusalem ever since 1915 when my grandparents fled Ottoman Turkey to Palestine during the Armenian genocide. Indeed, Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the fulcra of the Nativity and Resurrection of our Christian faith, were once bustling with local Christians.

In Jerusalem, two of the four quarters of the Old City (the Christian and Armenian ones) are a living testimony to their centuries-old presence. Yet, today, although my brother and his family have steadfastly chosen to remain in Jerusalem, scores of Christians have left in search of more dignified, politically stable and economically viable alternatives.

So what do Christians witness in this land of frequent pilgrimages but also of infrequent visions?

Some 60 short years ago, Christians constituted roughly 25 per cent of the overall Palestinian population in the Holy Land, and around 80 per cent of Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Beit Jala. Today, those numbers have dwindled drastically - in Bethlehem, for instance, they are just over 15 per cent of the overall population - largely because of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. No matter how people choose to interpret facts or massage realities, the political situation has been - and remains to be - the primary cause for the alarming reduction in the number of indigenous Christians in this biblical land.

Christians have almost lost hope in a land that witnessed the incarnation of our hope. Dr Bernard Sabella, a sociologist who is also Executive Secretary of the Department on Service to Palestinian Refugees and Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, has published numerous statistical studies on the haemorrhaging outflow of local Christians. In one study as far back as 2004, he estimated that local Christians now stood at far less than two per cent of the overall population, suggesting that this decline reflected a dearth in socio-economic and political visions for Palestine.

Over the past 43 years, since the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land in June 1967, rapacious Israeli settlers have colonised Palestinian land - often aided, and frequently abetted, by successive Israeli governments. The physical, demographic and economic integrity of the land - and thereby of the people living on it - has been eroded by deliberate Israeli policies that are not only contrary to international law and UN Resolutions, but that also strive to get rid of Palestinian demography (the people) whilst retaining Palestinian geography (the land).

In Bethlehem, as in many other parts of the West Bank, an ugly separation wall encircles relentlessly the Palestinian areas, dividing one Palestinian from another, one institution from another. With secondary and smaller cement walls buttressing this wall, and with Israeli Jews-only settlements on Palestinian land, along with 400 checkpoints severing towns and villages from each other, Palestinian resources are being snuffed out and have resulted in the creation of small gaols within those territories. The concomitant consequences have been unemployment, poverty, socio-economic meltdown, despair and violence.

Is it still any wonder that Palestinian Christians are leaving in droves?

In a speech on 29th April, Professor John J Mearsheimer, R Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and co-director of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago, described some Israelis as the New Afrikaners. Indeed, such corrosive apartheid (separateness in Afrikaans) policies are being exercised by Israel in many Palestinian territories (where Christians live in small numbers amongst Palestinian Muslims). Is it also any wonder that some prominent Christian church and lay leaders issued the Kairos Palestine Document: A Moment of Truth in December 2009 in which they spoke out in liberation theology native terms about faith, hope and love in the heart of Palestinian suffering and against those practices that have condemned their communities to this downward spiral? Can such weakened communities resist any longer?

However, in focusing upon the sinister effects of Israeli occupation, it is equally scrupulous to look at other concerns befalling Palestinian Christians in this once-golden land (as the prophet Zechariah described it). Two contributory strains, I would suggest, are Christian-Muslim relations and Western Christianity.

When I was Ecumenical Consultant for the Churches of Jerusalem during the unlucky Oslo years, I recall how church leaders or their representatives would help nip in the bud any potential strife between Christians and Muslims by calling the late Chairman Yasser Arafat's representatives to seek their prompt mediation. Today, those conduits of conflict resolution are far more complex and much less discernible, and the tensions between Palestinian Christians and Muslims are perceptibly more frequent even if most Palestinians would deny them vehemently due to an overall anxious sense of nationalism. I believe this is due in part to a growing political Islamisation within specific cross-sections of Palestinian society in the West Bank (and certainly in Gaza, with its tiny pocket of Christians and their public institutions) today. Some Muslims have become less inclusive, spurn diversity and openly or secretly consider non-Muslims as infidels who do not belong to the land.

Such attitudes are due to an ill-considered, even blinkered, belief that the links those Christians have with the larger Universal Church in the West (Greece, Rome or London) could turn them into potential political fifth columns! I have heard Palestinians speaking out - often discreetly - about some practices of physical and structural violence whereby Christian shops are the last ones to be frequented for business and where Palestinian Christians are the last to receive financial aid from local authorities. Engage a Christian deacon, ironmonger, butcher, secretary, verger, or physician, and one detects those worries simmering under the chipped veneer of pan-Palestinian solidarity.

This is an unfortunate development that is neither Islamic nor provides proper ijtihad or jurisprudence. But it does occasionally detract from the collective effort necessary to focus on the central objective of Israeli occupation and is alas, a reality that increasingly blights the lives of everyday Christians.

But is the radicalisation of some pockets of Islam the sole reason why a small but important number of Palestinian Muslims are looking charily at Palestinian Christians? Has Palestine become an almost Lebanese clone where confessional politics are taking hold of what has for long decades been a fiercely secular and inclusive society? I for one, remember growing up in a neighbourhood of northern Jerusalem that had many Muslims who were not only ‘neighbours’ but also friends. I am sure that Haig could tell stories about his own experiences of friendships and respectful coexistence. After all, Palestinians had almost always been united by their political aims, not divided by their religious affiliations. One cannot also forget that some of the incipient Palestinian liberation leaders were Christian, as are politicians, parliamentarians and ambassadors today. It is not always helpful to turn into an ostrich in the midst of a sand dune either.

I suggest that the tensions fomented by Islamist radicalism, over and above the Israeli rampant occupation of land, are also exacerbated by fundamentalist evangelical Christian constituencies in the West (largely in the USA) who purport that the Christian faith equates itself with an unquestioning support for Israel. They claim this is because God chose the Israelites as His people and entered into a Covenant with them. It is therefore the duty of Christians, those groups claim, to defend Israel (a political entity) and Israelis (a demographic entity) over the whole biblical land of Israel (a geographic entity).

In my view, such Christians are not only limited by their faith-based periscope but are also ostracising ‘other’ Christians by adhering rigidly to the tenets of the Old Testament, ignoring the transformative message of the New Testament, being selective in their scriptural and prophetic quotations, and releasing Israelis from their obligations in relation to their covenant with God, let alone toward Palestinians. Surely, to be hemmed in by a faith perception that is literalist or exclusivist is not how our Lord and Saviour would have acted today. But such Christians also believe the only way for the Messiah to return to earth (and therefore fulfil prophesies in the Book of Revelation) is through the in-gathering of Jews (in modern-day Israel) so they could be converted to Christianity and pave the way for the Second Coming of Christ.

I cannot frankly see many Jews getting terribly excited by this Christian plan! But there exists today a finite tactical alliance whereby Jews overlook the underlying eschatological motivations of some Western Christians in return for their unstinting financial and political support of Israel. The Old Testament has become the organic nexus between [some] Christians and [some] Jews, at the expense of the New Testament and the indigenous followers of Christ region-wide.

So where do we Christians of the Holy Land stand today as pilgrims of faith on our journeys of faith?

I believe that the three existential challenges I highlighted are together leading some Palestinian Christians to re-calculate constantly their options. His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, emeritus patriarch of Jerusalem, delivered a lecture entitled The Theological, Spiritual and Pastoral Christian Presence in the Middle East at CEDRAC (the Research and Documentation Centre for Arabic Christianity) in Beirut on 5 May 2010 in which he affirmed that Palestinian Christians are cross-bearing witnesses, whose commandment is one of love, of showing how to build a healthy and inclusive society, and of being true bridges with the outside world. I suppose one could add that Jews, Christians and Muslims are united through Abraham and Sarah, hewn from the same rock (Isaiah 51:1), and so it becomes essential to find ways for co-existence in this land between the three monotheistic faiths.

But how does one affirm the Christian presence in the Holy Land? In Bethlehem, for instance, in order to dissuade young Palestinian families from leaving the Holy Land, the Franciscan Order is building new flats and offering them to young Palestinian couples in return for low-rent tenancies. This is a practical - and critical - tool to help counter emigration. But if we mean to tackle the root causes of the problems facing Christians in the Holy Land today rather than paper over the symptoms alone, the first station should be an end to Israeli occupation and its illegal practices. Palestinians must be set free from captivity, imprisonment, separation walls, settlements, ID confiscations and allowed instead to pursue their own destinies and hopes - and to make their own mistakes. Only then could they be expected to put their own house in order - presently in shambles - and become accountable as they edify at long last their independent state.

To those friends world-wide worried about the Christian life, presence and witness across the whole Middle East, I remind them of St Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386) - a contemporary of Epiphanius, Jerome and Rufinus - who stated, Do not rejoice in the cross in time of peace only, but hold fast to the same faith in time of persecution also. Do not be a friend of Jesus in time of peace only but also in time of persecution. Perhaps we should all learn - I before you - to be less à la carte Christians with anaemic faiths and to show instead resoluteness, fortitude and solidarity in our outreach to our neighbours during times of adversity.

This is why I am also cautiously hopeful that the forthcoming Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East called for by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI that will take place in Rome from 10-24 October 2010 will manage to discuss carefully, but also openly and judiciously, those three existential issues. The theme of the Synod is The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness and is underscored by the scriptural verse 'Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul' (Acts 4:32). In this respect, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in London, supported by its counterparts in Germany and the USA, will provide support and exposure to this event that will unite all the Catholic Church leadership of the Middle East under one roof in the Vatican.

So today, I invite you to spare no effort in reaching out with love, prayer but also action to those quarantined Living Stones (1 Peter 2:5) who face the daily vagaries of life in the midst of human pain and unholy conflicts. Our Christocentric faith does not call for apathy, nor should it pander to hyper-inflated political correctness or jaundiced cynicism. What it exacts from us can perhaps be summed up for me by St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians to seek the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3). Can we all 'do our small bit' and pursue our mission and help ensure that those Living Stones do not inevitably become the deadened sites of the Holy Land let alone of the wider Middle East?

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© Harry Hagopian is an International lawyer & EU political consultant. He also acts as Middle East advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales and as Middle East consultant to ACEP in Paris and is a regular Ekklesia contributor. Formerly, he was Executive Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee & Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches. This article was published in Mission Outlook Volume 43 # 2 in July 2010, and is reproduced with grateful acknowledgements. Dr Hagopian’s own website is www.epektasis.net

'Britain’s witch children', a Channel 4 television Dispatches documentary shown on Monday 26 July, was disturbing and revealing.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has launched an unexpectedly strong attack on the conditions in Israeli-blockaded Gaza.

In a conference at the end of his visit to Turkey, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has launched an unexpectedly strong attack on the conditions in Israeli-blockaded Gaza.

He described the territory as "a prison camp" and said that the recent Israeli security forces raid on a flotilla of aid ships bound for the territory was "totally unacceptable."

The PM declared: “Turkey's relationships in the [Middle East] region, both with Israel and with the Arab world, are of incalculable value. No other country has the same potential to build understanding between Israel and the Arab world. I know that Gaza has led to real strains in Turkey's relationship with Israel. But Turkey is a friend of Israel. And I urge Turkey, and Israel, not to give up on that friendship. Let me be clear. The Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla was completely unacceptable. And I have told PM Netanyahu, we will expect the Israeli inquiry to be swift, transparent and rigorous. Let me also be clear that the situation in Gaza has to change. Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp. But as, hopefully, we move in the coming weeks to direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians so it's Turkey that can make the case for peace and Turkey that can help to press the parties to come together, and point the way to a just and viable solution.“

The denunciation will go down especially well in Turkey, which has had positive relations with Israel and wants to see the security and territorial integrity of both Israelis and Palestinians through a settlement in the region - but which has been angry and outraged by the flotilla assault.

The British government has welcomed the lessening of the crippling economic and humanitarian blockade on the territory, but wants Israel to remove it altogether.

Campaigners say that the US and European Union are not being rigorous enough in their pressure.

Also on Ekklesia: 'From Turkey to Gaza: Human rights and fundamental freedoms?', by Harry Hagopian - http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12413

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British PM David Cameron says he will "fight" for Turkey's accession to the European Union, despite the slow pace of negotiations.

British PM David Cameron says he will "fight" for Turkey's accession to the European Union, despite the slow pace of negotiations.

Those opposed to Turkey joining the EU have cited a variety of reasons, including the country's poor human rights record and fears of a Muslim-majority country - albeit with a strong secular tradition - being at the heart of Europe.

Proponents say that while reform is necessary, and contentious questions like Turkey's denial of the 1915-23 Armenian Genocide (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/tags/3873) remain to be faced, these will be more fruitfully dealt with inside rather than outside the Union.

Pope Benedict XVI has in the past expressed disquiet about possible Turkish EU accession, but has gradually changed his view on the matter.

However, a raft of political, economic and procedural issues have delayed progress on achieving membership.

On his first visit to Turkey as prime minister, Mr Cameron said the country could become a "great European power", helping build links with the Middle East.

He also compared hostility to the membership bid in some parts of the EU with the way the UK's entry was once regarded.

Mr Cameron is expected to agree a new strategic partnership with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during his visit.

Cynics say that he also hopes that robust support for Turkey's EU membership will also secure reciprocal support for the more reserved and sheltered position within Europe which Mr Cameron favours for the UK - leading, as he does, a party with a high number of 'Euro-sceptics' in it.

In his speech at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Mr Cameron said he wanted to "pave the road" for Turkey to join the EU, as a country "vital for our economy, vital for our security and vital for our diplomacy".

A European Union without Turkey at its heart was "not stronger but weaker... not more secure but less... not richer but poorer".

He added: "I'm here to make the case for Turkey's membership of the EU. And to fight for it."

Commentators suggest that despite the many reform questions facing its institutions, actual contact with the EU has in practice, as with modern economic and political realities, blunted the scepticism of those who have in the past traded on anti-EU rhetoric.

Also on Ekklesia: 'From Turkey to Gaza: Human rights and fundamental freedoms?', by Harry Hagopian - http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12413

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It is easy to lose democratic mechanisms but difficult to get them back, says the incoming General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation.

It is easy to lose democracy but difficult to get it back, says the incoming General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, the Rev Martin Junge - writes Peter Kenny.

Junge, a Chilean, who assumes his post on 1 November, was speaking from first hand experience on 26 July 2010 during an eight-day meeting in Stuttgart, Germany, of the LWF's assembly, its highest governing body.

"As with many people in my country of my own generation, I was profoundly shaped by the period of great political difficulties. We suffered the loss of democracy and freedoms, and lived under the rule of military dictatorship," said Junge.

In 1973, General Augusto Pinochet seized power in Chile in a bloody coup. He remained as the Latin American country's ruler until 1990, when he stepped down after losing a national referendum on whether he could continue as president until 1997.

"During that period of time, I learned how little it takes to lose democracy, and how much it takes to regain it," said Junge. He added that he had also learned the, "tremendous value of participatory democracy".

The new LWF General Secretary comes from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chile, of which he was president from 1996 to 2000. It is one of the smallest of the LWF's 145 member churches.

"I grew up in a church which will soon have more female than male pastors. I am neither nervous nor concerned about it. I am simply grateful for these developments," Junge said.

He noted that he had been mentored during an internship with his church by a female pastor, the Rev Gloria Rojas, "who is sitting in the assembly representing my church as it first female president".

Junge will succeed the Rev Ishmael Noko, a Zimbabwean, who is retiring after 16 years as LWF General Secretary.

The Chilean pastor, whose mother was a Roman Catholic and father a Lutheran, said he had learned an important sentence from his predecessor, "To be Lutheran is to be ecumenical."

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

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Investing in tradition-based pluralism rather than feeding monopoly needs to be the future of both religion and media, says Simon Barrow. And not just in the interactions between the two overlapping realms.

It is no coincidence that the decline of institutional, inherited religious beliefs and organisations over the past fifty years (particularly in Europe and North America) has occurred at the same time as a revolution in the media – and especially the rise of the internet-based, digitally-conveyed ‘new media’.

The democratisation of knowledge and of belief have occurred together. Authority and veracity as the monopoly of the few is no longer credible in the online world. This reality has substantially changed the agenda regarding the way religion is perceived, described and commented upon.

Many in current leadership positions in faith bodies have still not grasped quite what is happening, or are still trying to hold on to a past where their voices were heard more prominently, with less questioning and with more respect than is ever going to be the case again. There are strong attempts to retain ‘God slot’ style footholds in the established media (the resistance to non-religious voices on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day, for example) and a corresponding failure to generate mainstream media content from an engaged faith perspective.

But there is no place to hide in the 24/7 online world. What might once have been ‘internal debates’, such as vituperative arguments about sexuality within the churches, have now become public property and have exposed what for many looking in from the outside is an unattractive landscape. Un-exposited theological language also finds less and less traction in a wider cultural environment in which the assumptions and beliefs of religion are less generally accepted, more diverse and much more contested

The democratization of media has meant a shifting boundary between ‘professional’ journalists and a growing phalanx of reporters and commentators from civil society. Religion writers on national newspapers must now produce blogs which will attract informed and critical response, like Ruth Gledhill’s ‘Articles of Faith’ on the Times (which I hope will not be imprisoned for too long behind Rupert Murdoch’s pay-me-more wall). This has positively ‘upped the game’ of the professionals. The Guardian’s online ‘Belief’ section, like the Washington Post’s religion debates, has similarly opened up discussion about religion well beyond the specialists. On the other hand, as a quick reading of comments on Guardian CIF will indicate, it has also enabled a stream of uninformed invective and has sometimes marginalised expertise. How to value depth of knowledge without succumbing to elitism is a continuing challenge.

Religious groups now also present themselves directly, as well as being ‘reported’ – with startlingly mixed results. Sometimes they seem to have little idea about how repellent they are being! A more open media environment provides ample scope for highlighting the plainly odd. Bartholemew’s Notes On Religion is one site that provides detailed, informed analysis of weird and wonderful beliefs – often pointing out that what appears exotic or offensive to the general observer, may still be profoundly influential – Christian Zionism in Israel, and racially or nationally exclusive religious ideologies in less known corners of Europe, for instance.

Both tech-savvy aggressive religious conservatives and proselytising ‘New Atheists’ have also been adept at using the new media environment, especially social networking, to spread their message – though they are probably appealing to ‘their own’ far more than those of different perspective. In turn the more argumentative types of belief and non-belief have shaped the corporate news agenda in particular directions.

One of the questions that has been posed to us is, ‘What stories about religion provoke debate, and what does this say about the subject of religion?’ For me, a more important question might be ‘What lenses are most frequently used to report religion, and what does this say about the way religion and the media feed off one another?’

A majority of religious people on our planet are probably relatively peaceable and accommodating - except where nationalism, conflict over resources and strong ideology raises its head. Yet it is sex, violence, exoticism, personalities and menacing commitment that sells websites as well as papers. This tells you as much about certain styles of media as it does about certain kinds of religion or belief.

Two strongly ingrained, and in my view unhelpful, narratives currently inform religion reporting in the West. The first is the idea that most disputes within faith communities arise from a root conflict between conservatism (understood as adherence to basic tenets) or liberalism (an abandonment of them). It is this mentality that often portrays fundamentalism in Christianity and Islam – comparatively recent outlooks based on distorted forms of modern rationalism – as normative for what it is to be a “proper believer”. Oddly, both Richard Dawkins and a Southern Baptist pastor would share this view, with one opposing and one supporting its outcomes. But in many cases, what is happening in a religious community is not like this. It is much more complex, nuanced and variable. Indeed authentic ‘tradition’ has always involved adaptation to change – as the evolving perspectives of the Hebrew and Christian biblical narratives clearly illustrate – when not captive to a narrow, particularist viewpoint.

Likewise, it is taken for granted in much religion reporting and comment that there is an unassailable conflict between ‘religion’ and ‘secularity’. But ‘religion’ understood as a set of discrete beliefs and rituals set apart from the rest of life is a fairly modern conception, essentially dreamt up in the seventeenth century with the rise of instrumental forms of reason. Likewise the ‘secular’ was historically understood to be the whole fabric of worldly existence, distinguished from an eternal perspective – rather than life separated from ‘religion’ (and vice versa).

Similarly, in today’s world, the truth is that there are forms of religion well adapted to the pluralism secularity assumes, and forms of religion inherently resistant to it. There are also forms of secularism that welcome the religious alongside the non-religious in the public sphere (without privileging one over the other) and others that reject this in favour of their own exclusionary ideology.

What is less frequently understood and reported is that people of faith and people of good faith (but not religious belief) can and do find ways of living and cooperating together without resort either to imposed state religion, or the elimination of religion from the public square. The zone in which this constructive engagement happens is civil society, and the tension is not between religion and non-religion per se, but between authoritarian and open convictions – whether grounded in the transcendent or not, ‘religious’ or ‘non-religious’.

The religion and society think-tank that I jointly head up, Ekklesia, which bases its research and advocacy work on a national and international news briefing service, is specifically committed to illustrating how these dominant narratives of liberal versus conservative, religious versus secular, and faith fundamentalism versus angry atheism are neither representative nor necessary. A better way is needed.

We find that bringing people together across the divides to discover how different belief traditions can inform common commitments to peacemaking, restorative justice, social solidarity, environmental sustainability and economic sharing is both practical and possible – if underreported. It can very fruitfully be done by deploying the best that we as Christians have to offer alongside those of other persuasions, without resorting either to the watering down of our faith into a vapid kind of liberalism or its hardening into a stifling caricature of orthodoxy.

In this way, investing in pluralism rather than feeding monopoly needs to be the future of both religion and media – and not just in the interactions between the two.

----------

© Simon Barrow is co-director of Ekklesia. This is the text of a presentation given in the context of a recent roundtable discussion on ‘Debating Religion in the Media’, alongside Martin Beckford from the Daily Telegraph and Michael Wakelin from the BBC. The session was chaired by Kim Knott, Professor of Theology at the University of Leeds, as part of a two-day conference at the Open University Centre in London.

See also:

* Simon Barrow, ‘Why we need to rid ourselves of the 'god of the slots',’ http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/5160

* More on the 'Thought for the Day' debate, http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/tags/2185

* Simon Barrow, 'Losing our (radio) religion?' http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/5168

The UK Home Office attempt to fast-track deportation of foreign nationals refused permission to stay in Britain has been ruled unlawful.

The UK Home Office attempt to fast-track the deportation of foreign nationals who are refused permission to stay in Britain has been ruled unlawful.

The High Court ruling is the latest blow against successive governments over their policies seeking to target and harass migrants and asylum seekers.

The summary removals policy was introduced in 2007 but widened earlier in 2010.

The Court, echoing civil rights and migrant groups, said it meant that those affected had "little or no notice" of removal and were deprived of access to justice.

The UK Border Agency's general policy allows 72 hours notice of removal but this can be reduced to little or none at all for people in certain categories.

The case was brought by Medical Justice, an NGO which provides independent medical and legal advice to detainees in immigration removal centres.

It argued that this "exceptions policy" was being used to swoop late at night and escort people to flights leaving only a few hours later, depriving them of the ability to contact lawyers and launch a last-ditch challenge.

Judge Justice Silber rejected government claims that its policy was "sufficiently flexible" to ensure there were no human rights breaches, and that detainees were given "as much notice as possible".

"The policy is unlawful and must be quashed," the judge declared unequivocally.

The Home Office has been given permission to appeal against the decision, and is likely to choose to use taxpayers' money to do so - in spite of public spending cuts.

Judge Justice Silber said the case raises issues of public importance, including the constitutional right of access to justice.

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Speaking at St Paul's Cathedral in London, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori challenged Christians to take action against the world's injustices.

US Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori challenged those attending Sung Eucharist at historic St Paul's Cathedral in London on Sunday to be "ready, willing and able" to speak out and take action against the world's injustices and indignities, reports Matthew Davies for the Episcopal News Service.

"Prophetic work is about more abundant life for the whole world, and it is about a home everywhere, a home for all," she said during her sermon for the feast of St James. "Prophetic work is about challenging human systems that ignore or deny the innate dignity of all of God's creation … We lose our dignity when we tolerate indignity for some … The work of the cross is the most life-giving journey we know. Are you ready, willing and able?"

The motto "ready, willing and able," she explained, is used by the Doe Fund, a New York-based organisation that helps to transform the lives of those affected by homelessness, poverty, poor education, alcoholism and drug addiction.

There is a human tendency, she said, "to insist that some are not worthy of respect, that dignity doesn't apply to the poor, or to immigrants, or to women, or Muslims, or gay and lesbian people."

Jefferts Schori underscored injustices in the Philippines, where religious and human rights activists are frequently the victims of political killings.

"The search for dignity is work that all members of Christ's body share," she added. "We're invited to join the band of prophets, share the meal and drink the cup. It can be dangerous work, but most prophets I know are also filled with joy." [The full text of the sermon is available here. A video stream of the sermon is due to be posted online here.]

The presiding bishop preceded her sermon by offering thanks for the Rev Canon Lucy Winkett, canon precentor at the cathedral, whose ministry, she said, has "had an impact far beyond this place."

Following the service, Jefferts Schori greeted members of the congregation, which included a visiting group from Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, Texas.

Jefferts Schori has been visiting London to attend the 23-27 July 2010 meeting of the Anglican Communion's Standing Committee. While she was preaching at St Paul's, other committee members attended Eucharist at Westminster Abbey.

During its first two days of closed-door meetings at the Anglican Communion Office in London, the committee discussed the decision by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams to remove Episcopal Church members serving on the communion's ecumenical dialogues.

"The committee was assured that the archbishop had not acted unilaterally but with the support of the secretary general of the Anglican Communion; that they had acted within their powers; and that the action had not been punitive in intention," a news release said. "Rather it had been taken - following the breaking of the agreed moratoria - in response to the needs of the communion in respect to ecumenical dialogues and faith and order bodies."

Dr Williams had proposed in his 28 May pastoral letter that representatives currently serving on ecumenical dialogues should resign their membership if they are from a province that has not complied with moratoria on same-gender blessings, cross-border interventions and the ordination of gay and lesbian people to the episcopate. He specifically referred to the 15 May consecration of Los Angeles Bishop Suffragan Mary Douglas Glasspool and the unauthorised incursions by Anglican leaders into other provinces. Glasspool is the Episcopal Church's second openly gay, partnered bishop.

The decision affects five Episcopal Church members serving on Anglican dialogues with the Lutheran, Methodist, Old Catholic and Orthodox churches, as well as one member of the Inter-Anglican Standing Committee on Unity, Faith and Order, who has been invited to serve as a consultant.

At least two other provinces have been asked to clarify the current situation regarding same-gender blessings and unauthorised incursions.

The committee is meeting in London through to today, and its agenda includes "finance, mission, the Anglican Relief and Development Alliance, evangelism and church growth, and unity, faith and order including the progress of consideration of the Anglican Communion Covenant by the provinces," an earlier ACO release said.

With thanks to Episcopal Life Online: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/

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Some weeks ago there was speculation that Pope Benedict might be invited to deliver a Radio 4 'Thought for the Day' during his state and pastoral visit in September. Jonathan Bartley anticipates an interesting exchange between the pontiff and the producer...

Some weeks ago there was speculation that Pope Benedict might be invited to deliver a Radio 4 'Thought for the Day' during his state and pastoral visit in September. Neither the pontiff's schedule nor any leaks from the heart of the BBC suggest that this is now likely - though in the course of preparing Ekklesia's new report casting fresh light on the famous radio 'God slot' (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/thought_for_the_day/main_report), the following metaphysical exchange reached us via the ether...

Scene: A BBC studio, some time in September 2010.

Pope: "Good Morning. When my predecessor arrived in Britain he famously kissed the ground and later declared: 'This fair land, once a distant outpost of the pagan world, has become, through the preaching of the Gospel, a beloved and gifted portion of Christ's vineyard.' Now it seems it is turning back to pagan ways … "

Producer: Hold on. Could we think of an alternative to "pagan"?

Pope: But that's what JP2 said …

Producer: It's just that we don't want to run the risk of opening up the whole thing about whether religious minorities should be allowed to do Thought for the Day.

Pope: What if I say the word in Latin?

Producer: Great. Most of the Radio 4 audience did classics, and it'll sound more pious. It's a religious slot, after all. OK, do continue your holiness.

Pope: "The forces of secularism … "

Producer: Ah, we can't be seen to be bashing secularists.

Pope: "Dark forces"?

Producer: Could be misconstrued.

Pope: "The enemies of Christianity"?

Producer: Fine.

Pope: " … are demonstrating even now, with an agenda to change the laws of the land, and take away the rights of the one true church."

Producer: Yes, now the "one true" claim could cause problems for a couple of reasons. The overwhelming majority of contributors to this slot are Anglicans, and we don't want to undermine what they are saying. There's also the slightly touchy subject of Anglicanorum Coetibus.

Pope: Yes, I was just coming to that.

Producer: Think we'll have to drop that bit too. Want to skip to the next part?

Pope: "The church will always be welcoming of all."

Producer: Now that's OK, but it can't be left unqualified.

Pope: Why not?

Producer: Well, Thought for the Day is a slot with no right of reply, so you have to put the other side of the argument.

Pope: Sorry, I'm not really used to that ...

Producer: It's OK. There's a skill to this which only comes with practice. There are ways of being able to say what you want to say, whilst appearing balanced. Just add a few references about the odd person who some might suggest would not be welcome, say, all the time.

Pope: Like women priests?

Producer: Yes, and people in gay relationships. And perhaps a reference to contraception? And we should also mention the recent, er scandals. "Welcome to all" could be misconstrued. Now we need some theology in there too, otherwise we get accused of not being distinctive.

Pope: I used a great line for one of my encyclicals. "God is love". It fits in with the welcoming theme don't you think?

Producer: Perfect. Much better than the tenuous "Jesus welcomed people once" approach which we always fall back on. Now we just need what we call in the trade "the pay off".

Pope: I thought the British taxpayer was covering my visit? It's a state visit you know – although you appreciate that I am doing this in a religious capacity?

Producer: No the "pay off" is the line at the end which draws it all together. How about a blessing?

Pope: OK, but usually papal blessings are reserved for special occasions.

Producer: We really appreciate it. It's a big thing for us. Quite a coup in fact. Right, at two and half minutes that's your lot. Last thing. I know you don't normally do this, but shall we run it past Lambeth Palace as well?

-----

(c) Jonathan Bartley is co-director of Ekklesia. He used to contribute to 'Thought for the Day' (http://tinyurl.com/39ot9au), but found himself un-invited when he said publicly that, as a Christian, he would have no objection to a broader range of contributors, including non-religious and minority religious speakers. This article is adapted from one that appeared earlier in the year on Guardian Comment-is-Free (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/jonathan-bartley).

Also on Ekklesia:

* 'BBC Thought for the Day row misses the point, says new report' - http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12711

* Simon Barrow, ‘Why we need to rid ourselves of the 'god of the slots',’ - http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/5160

* ‘Introduction to the Thought for the Day debate’, ‘http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/research/thought_for_the_day - the preliminary report to 'Thought for the Day': Beyond the god-of-the-slots, http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/thought_for_the_day/main_report

The Catholic Church in Scotland is being questioned over plans to charge parishioners for the cost of going to see the Pope on his visit to Glasgow.

The Catholic Church in Scotland is being questioned over plans to charge parishioners for the cost of going to see the Pope on his impending visit to Glasgow.

As part of his British trip, which combines a state visit with pastoral duties, Pope Benedict XVI will celebrate a public mass for around 100,000 people at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow on 16 September 2010.

Those wanting to attend the mass will need a Pilgrim Pass with the church instituting a "suggested donation" of £20 per pass.

However, a Catholic Church spokesperson said no-one would be forced to pay and that the money would be spent on logistical arrangements such as transport.

It added that if parishes could not afford to pay, then ancillary fundraising could be used to cover the costs - though it seems that this would be down to local effort and may prove difficult in poorer communities.

The argument is the latest in a whole series of rows about who should pay for the visit - with protests about the £12-20 million likely cost to the taxpayer of the pontiff's formal functions.

Rome and Catholic communities across Britain are making contributions, but government papal visit spokesperson Chris Patten, former governor of Hong Kong and a practicing Catholic himself, has been unable to say what the total cost will be or exactly how it will be borne.

Around half the total number of Catholics who attend mass each week in Scotland are expected in Glasgow, with places also being allocated to worshippers from the north of England and from Northern Ireland.

The Pilgrim Pass includes a pack with information about the visit and a CD.

Scottish Catholic spokesperson Peter Kearney told the BBC and other news agencies: "We have negotiated with bus companies to make sure that people can travel on designated buses from every single part of the country. All people are being asked to do is make a contribution through their parishes to cover those obvious and real expenses."

However, some parishioners and attenders, who have already made voluntary donations, feel that they are being charged 'by the back door', and say that as a very rich institution the Vatican should be doing more to cover the costs of the papal visit.

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